by Rafael Bandayrel
ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong said there will be a rematch between Joshua Pacio and Japanese Yosuke Saruta believing the former got a raw deal during the title fight in Jakarta, Indonesia last Saturday.
Sityodtong said he was disappointed with the judges’ decision to award the match and the title to Saruta.
“In my personal opinion as CEO and my personal opinion as a life-long martial artist, I thought Joshua Pacio won the fight,” Sityodtong said at the ONE: Hero’s Ascent presser at the City of Dreams Manila.
“There’s a very big difference between our rule-set and the unified rule-set,” explained Sityodtong. “The unified rule-set is a game. If I take you down, I win the round, f I do it enough times, I win the fight.”
But the ONE boss likewise stressed that winning a fight by merely scoring points is “not martial arts.”
“In my opinion Joshua won because he won the exchanges he landed the harder shots,” he said. “I guess he was taken down but Saruta did nothing. Nothing!”
“So yes there will be a rematch,” Sityodtong concluded.
